Last week, China achieved a new feat by launching an uncrewed spacecraft on a nearly two-month mission to recover rocks and soil from the far side of the Moon. The Long March-5, the country’s largest rocket, lifted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island, carrying the Chang’e-6 probe, weighing more than 8 tons.
The far side of the Moon is so called because it is not visible from Earth. This is due to a phenomenon called synchronized rotation, in which the Moon takes the same amount of time to rotate around its axis as it does around the Earth, resulting in one side always facing us and the other permanently hidden. Therefore, from Earth’s perspective, this side remains “hidden” or “dark,” although it is still illuminated by the Sun in the same way as the visible side.
This is not the first time China has impressed the world with its space achievements. In 2018, the Chang’e-4 probe performed the first successful unmanned landing on the far side of the Moon, while in 2020, Chang’e-5 marked the return of the first lunar samples in 44 years.
The samples recovered by the Chang’e-6 spacecraft could help scientists get a deeper look at the evolution of the Moon and the solar system itself. The spacecraft is tasked with landing in the South Pole-Aitken Basin.Â
This innovative mission, named after the Chinese goddess of the moon and weighing approximately 8,200 kilograms, will spend 53 days in space, where it intends to collect geological samples.
“Chang’e-6 aims to achieve breakthroughs in the design and control technology of the Moon’s retrograde orbit, intelligent sampling, take-off and ascent technologies, and automatic sample return on the far side of the Moon,” said Ge Ping, deputy director of the Center for Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering at the China National Space Administration (CNSA).Â
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